Alycia Lane

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alycia Lane (born May 10, 1972) is an American television journalist. Until January 2008, she served as co-anchor of the weekday evening newscasts on KYW-TV in Philadelphia.


Alycia Lane
Born May 10, 1972 (1972-05-10) (age 36)
Lake Grove, New York, USA
Occupation Television journalist
Ethnicity Puerto Rican
Salary $700,000/annually
Notable credit(s) Eyewitness News

Contents

[edit] Background

Lane, a native of Lake Grove, New York, is of Puerto Rican descent on her mother's side and Welsh descent on her father's. She has a Master’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Albany where she graduated with honors. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and speaks fluent Spanish.[1]

[edit] Career

Lane's television career began while completing her Master's at Northwestern, serving as a Washington, D.C.-based reporter for KSNT in Topeka, Kansas. [1] After completing her studies, she returned to her native New York and joined Cablevision-owned News 12 the Bronx, where she served as an anchor and reporter.[1] Among the stories she covered there was the 1999 shooting of African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was shot to death by four New York City police officers.

In 2000, Lane moved to Miami, after being hired as a reporter for Fox affiliate WSVN. She joined a rival station, NBC-owned WTVJ a year later, and spent two years there before moving to Philadelphia and CBS-owned KYW-TV in September 2003.[1] KYW paired her with Larry Mendte on their 11 o'clock newscast, and by early 2004 had experienced "an amazing 61%" rise in the show's ratings.[2] In 2005, she was awarded a local Emmy Award for her "Holiday Traditions" special.[1][3]

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Bikini pictures

In May 2007 Lane became the center of a national media story, when reports surfaced that Lane emailed pictures of herself and friends, depicting her in a bikini, to the NFL Network's Rich Eisen via an account that he shared with his wife, Suzy Shuster. Shuster's email response became public.[4][5] Lane insisted that the pictures were harmless[6] and that she and Eisen have been "purely platonic" friends "for almost 10 years", and that they "regularly exchange e-mail and photos".[7]

[edit] Arrest and firing

Lane was arrested in the early morning hours of December 16, 2007 in New York City, accused of assaulting a female police officer.[8] Lane was charged with one felony count of assault on a police officer.[9][10][11]

On January 7, 2008, KYW-TV announced that Ms. Lane had been released from her contract. In a statement, the station explained that the decision to terminate Lane was made "...After assessing the overall impact of a series of incidents resulting from judgments she has made...we have concluded that it would be impossible for Alycia to continue to report the news as she, herself, has become the focus of so many news stories." ([1], [2]) Lane's legal counsel subsequently released a statement which countered the station's reasoning: "...The termination comes at a time when there has been absolutely no determination that Alycia is guilty of any wrongful conduct, and after KYW-TV has aired her categorical denial of the alleged charge that is pending against her. The termination is unfair because Alycia has never had an opportunity to defend against this charge, and tell her side of the story publicly, before KYW-TV has taken this unusual and unwarranted step to terminate her employment."[12]

On January 30, 2008, Lane's lawyers filed a writ of summons on her behalf, a preemptive move towards a lawsuit against KYW-TV in connection with her firing. [13][14] On February 19, 2008, lawyers for CBS, KYW-TV's parent company, sought to move Lane's state court writ to the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, though a provision in Lane's contract stated that employment disputes were to be handled in New York, where the network is headquartered. [15]

Lane's criminal case for assault on a police officer was effectively closed on February 25, 2008, when a New York judge reduced Lane's charges to misdemeanors. The case was then adjourned, with an additional provision that charges against Lane would be dropped on the condition that she is not arrested, at any time, over the next six months. [16]

[edit] Invasion of Privacy

On May 31, 2008, it was announced in an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer that KYW anchor Larry Mendte was under investigation by the FBI for allegedly reading Lane's private e-mail, which if true would be a federal offense.[17]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Alycia Lane Biography", Philly.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  2. ^ Steve McClellan. "CBS Stations Soar in Sweeps: New talent, vision transform losers into winners", Broadcasting & Cableaccessdate=2008-03-10, May 4, 2004. 
  3. ^ "2005 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award Winners", NatasMid-Atlantic.org. Retrieved on 2008-03-11. 
  4. ^ Richard Johnson. Bikini-e-mails Rattle TV Wife. New York Post. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  5. ^ Staff Report. Report: Wife not amused by Alycia Lane's email come-on. Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  6. ^ Micahel Klein. Alycia Lane defends "saucy" e-mails. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  7. ^ TMZ Staff. Bikini-Clad News Babe: Sexy Pix "Purely Platonic". TMZ.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-02.
  8. ^ Criminal Court of the City of New York (2007-12-17). NYC Police Complaint. philly.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
  9. ^ Dan Gross (2007-12-16). Alycia Lane Arrested in New York for allegedly assaulting an NYPD officer. Philly.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
  10. ^ Dan Gross (2007-12-16). Ugly new details on Alycia's arrest. Philly.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
  11. ^ Associated Press (2007-12-17). Anchorwoman Arrested. nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-17.
  12. ^ Paul Rosen (2008-01-08). Spector Gadon & Rosen P.C. press release. Reuters. Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
  13. ^ Lane v. CBS Broadcasting, Inc.
  14. ^ Michael Klein (2008-01-30). Alycia’s lawyer: We want facts. Philly.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  15. ^ Dan Gross (2008-02-20). CBS makes federal case of Alycia. Philly.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  16. ^ Samuel Maull (2008-02-25). Ex-Philly News Anchor's Charges Reduced. ap.google.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  17. ^ Philadelphia Inquirer (2008-05-31). Larry Mendte Probed for Snooping on Alycia Lane, Sources Say. Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.